


Afternoon Kip

by Goldy



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, au i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-29
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-08 19:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1952691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldy/pseuds/Goldy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>“Also, failing that, there is this very nice closet in the TARDIS filled entirely with cotton balls. Minimal danger involved.”</i> The Doctor is somewhat... overprotective after getting Rose back. AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Afternoon Kip

The Doctor poked the Rose-shaped blob sprawled across his chest.

It did not move.

He sighed and leaned his head back, blinking his eyes against the harsh rays of the sun. It had been two hours. At first he’d amused himself by reciting the alphabets of all 647 languages that he knew. Backwards. _Then_ he’d calculated the force of gravity on this planet. Then he’d moved on to cataloging the various bird species overhead, paying particular attention to their speed and measuring that against the wind.

Now he was bored.

The Rose-shaped blob emitted a snore and then curled her fingers around his tie and snuggled closer.

He shouldn’t wake her. He really, _really_ shouldn’t. It would be… wrong. Human beings wouldn’t evolve past sleeping for another 10 million years after her timeline. And after being chased over a mountain by a projectile slime alien, he could understand that she might need some time to rejuvenate after their dashing escape into the TARDIS.

This planet’s sprawling lakes and trees seemed like the perfect pit-stop. It was quiet, inhabited only by the native populations. Two minutes of breathing in the fresh air and Rose fell into what could probably pass as a coma on some planets

Very slowly, he counted to 20 and then decided that would do it.

“Rose!”

The blob grunted, but otherwise had no reaction.

He raised his voice. “Roooooooosseeee.”

She shifted slightly, mumbling something that sounded like, “Mrrrggggmmmmffff.”

“You are awake!” he said. “Brilliant. Where to next?”

One eye opened. It was an accusing eye.

“My bedroom. In the TARDIS. Where I can close the door.”

The eye snapped shut.

“You don’t really mean that,” he said, mostly to himself. “OOH. Did you know that there are at least five different species of bird on this planet? Fascinating!”

Rose raised her head, one of her elbows digging into his ribs. He told himself it was not on purpose.

“Hello,” he said.

Rose’s sleepy eyes blinked a few times. “Do you ever sleep? You could _try_ it. For a bit.”

“Far too advanced for that,” he said.

Rose coughed out something that sounded suspiciously like “Regeneration coma!” before giving a stretch and a yawn. She rested her chin on his chest and peered at him studiously.

“Is it just me,” she said. “Or is it sort of… quiet?”

“I’m sorry?”

“You know…” Rose waved a hand around her, narrowly missing hitting him on the nose. “I’m not complaining about the downtime, but I keep expecting something more threatening than an ant to attack us.” She wrinkled her nose. “They aren’t killer ants, are they?”

“Oh, come on!” he said. “We haven’t even checked out the bird species on the other side of the lake. Some of them might even have teeth.”

Rose looked amused. “Sounds exciting.”

“Also, failing that, there is this very nice closet in the TARDIS filled entirely with cotton balls. Minimal danger involved.”

Rose’s amusement faded. “Freaked you out, didn’t it? Those… slime things from earlier. First time we’ve been in danger since I got back from the parallel world.”

He avoided her eyes, and gave a terse, “Yeah.”

Rose quieted. Then she shifted and something wet dragged across his chin.

He yelped. “Did you just lick me?”

Instead of answering, Rose inhaled deeply.

“Did you just _smell_ me?”

“Well, _you_ do it all the time,” Rose said. “Just wanted to see what it was like, I suppose. I think you need to shave.”

His fingers absently brushed the stubble on his chin. He frowned. “Time Lords have extraordinary senses, you know. I don’t just… go around licking things. There’s a good reason for it! Usually!”

Rose looked thoughtful. “You know, I’m not sure you got all that slime off. I can still kind of taste it.”

She smacked her lips together a few times and then wrinkled her nose.

“Really?” he said. He waggled his eyebrows. “In that case, we might have to pop back into the shower, hmm?”

She thumped him on the shoulder. “Oi! Doctor, you can’t just—just wake a girl up and then tell her you want a quick shag.”

“What?” he said, mouth opening and closing. “I did _not._ ”

“Uh, huh,” Rose said. She pressed her nose to his chin, but she didn’t inhale again. He wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed her once.

“Slime aliens aren’t really that dangerous,” he said. “They make a mess, but it’s mostly… defensive. A warning to predators.”

He didn’t know if he was explaining for her benefit or for his own.

Rose kissed the corner of his mouth. “I’m scared, too. Feels like I only just got you back—like it could all end at any moment.”

He didn’t respond.

Rose sighed and shifted, lifting her head so she could peer into his eyes.

“We don’t gotta jump back into it all at once,” she said. “But you’ve _got_ to stop following me to the bathroom. It’s a bit… creepy. There aren’t any aliens that live in toilet bowls are there?”

He had the sense to look guilty. “No. Well! Probably not. Not… on any planet we’ve been to. Yet.”

“But, Doctor… you know we can’t do this forever, yeah? I mean, it’s all been nice. _Very_ , very nice.” She softened her voice. “It’s just… it feels a bit like we’re hiding from the rest of the universe. Maybe you’re getting soft in your old age.”

“Oh, that is… I am _not_!”

She rolled her eyes. “You’ve spent the last two hours studying bird migratory patterns.”

“You were asleep!” he said. “Also, I think you might have been lying on the sonic screwdriver. You can’t try and save the world without a sonic screwdriver, Rose.”

Rose patted his right pocket in response, looking like she was considering going through it. Well, _then_ they’d be there all day.

Ha! Brilliant plan.

“You know,” he said. “I think I nicked a chocolate bar just last week. No idea where it went.”

Rose looked intrigued. “What sort of chocolate?”

He shrugged mysteriously. “No idea. More fun that way. Want to help find it? I promise to share.”

“Generous,” Rose said. “Alright, then. Chocolate it is. But then we’ll go find a planet that needs rescuing, yeah?”

“Um…”

“Don’t worry. We can start slow. Maybe we can rescue a planet from a horde of fluffy bunny rabbits.” Rose wiggled around so she could start digging through the pocket. “Oh! Found the sonic screwdriver!”

”Well, that’s nice,” he said. “We’ll definitely need that.”

Rose looked suspicious. “We will?”

“You never know,” the Doctor said.

Rose grinned. “And I was beginning to think there wasn’t enough danger in our lives.”  



End file.
